you and my daughter!- have been looking through my flip video camera she commandeered over weekend today, mostly Ross on there! Must say though I was impressed with the support he gave Dan Evans- he was on his feet at almost every point. I hope Evans gets another go in April, he really deserves it.

I do wish I could have watched it on TV. Sound like I missed something really special.

you and my daughter!- have been looking through my flip video camera she commandeered over weekend today, mostly Ross on there! Must say though I was impressed with the support he gave Dan Evans- he was on his feet at almost every point. I hope Evans gets another go in April, he really deserves it.

He's a very attractive guy - what can I say - other than I'm old enough to know better!! They must give Dan Evans another outing, and I'll be watching his progress closely. So impressive.

I'm surprised and very happy that it will be at Braehead again. We have been pretty spoiled. I just hope that when we get back to the World Group we all get a chance to see team GB. I'd hate to see all the ties go back to England.

I thought that too then, someone said to me today 'they (ie down south) get Wimbledon and Queens and the O2 every year and they have the Olympics this year too', and I thought, yep, agree with that. Like you though IonaRed I worry a bit that *when* we get back into world group, we'll miss out again.

Thankfully I had a day off today- my arms are still aching from all that waving around and I have Runrig's 'Loch Lomond' on a loop in my head! Completely incoherent. Apparently we featured quite heavily on Eurosport on Friday, me in my specialist role of 'middle aged woman who makes bizarre faces when she can't bear to watch something'. I have no intention of looking for these shots. On Sunday the sole Slovakians in the crowd sat in front of us and got a tad annoying at one point, but scuttled out quite quickly at the end. Andrew Castle and Rob Curling were also in front of us and it was so funny to see the number of ladies getting pics taken with Castle, shudder. Was pleased with myself that when my daughter was chatting with Hutchins after practice on Friday I realised he was talking to his dad- he's aged a bit since the Davis Cup days of the 70's! (but then haven't we all.....) It was nice to see Leon Smith smiling for a change. He was dead gloomy last time. <here endeth the stream of consciousness ramblings>

I think it is an astute idea to hold the April tie in Braehead again. Now that the team has won 3 times there consecutively, when they play there again, the good feelings will return especially for Dan so will maximise the chance of the team winning again.

If I was Andy, now that the team is close to getting back to the World Group and Belgium is a relatively easy opponent, I would play on the condition that Dan being the 2nd Singles player.

To gauge how well Dan did over the week-end, here are ranking points over the last 12 months earned :

Dan has beaten two people who have earned around 3 to 4x the amount of points he himself has earned. This is why Mecir said Dan did not play like someone who is ranked 276. If Dan is able to keep a cool head and continue to work hard, top 100 beckons.

Thanks for all that info. I was even more impressed with Dan's performance given that he'd flopped dismally on two previous occasions when having to play a decisive 5th rubber. Admittedly the last time was, I think, two years ago, and he really was a rookie then, but I can't believe that these earlier failures weren't lurking in the back of his mind, even in a very small way, so to come out and play like he did shows a considerable amount of mental strength, particularly when the score went to 2-2 and it looked like Klizan was going to take the match. According to one report I read Dan said that before the start of the 5th Leon told him to play more aggressively and not be afraid to go for his shots, and that he had to believe he would win - and Dan went back on court and did just that.

I liked the comment from Mike Dickson in the Daily Mail when he quipped that "the 21-year-old from Birmingham had achieved the rare feat of sending a Scottish crowd wild at the sight of an Englishman's victory." Very well done, Dan!

I would say a lot of praise must go to Leon Smith. He studied on video the way the opponents played and prepared Dan really well so that Dan was extremely clear on what he needed to do to beat them. Also, he continued to ply Dan with good advice as well as keeping Dan calm to maximise his potential. I would give 50% of the credit to Leon because Dan alone would not have been able to win even 1 rubber.

Well done to Leon for his contributions, and Dan for his excellent play and bravery.

I would say a lot of praise must go to Leon Smith. He studied on video the way the opponents played and prepared Dan really well so that Dan was extremely clear on what he needed to do to beat them. Also, he continued to ply Dan with good advice as well as keeping Dan calm to maximise his potential. I would give 50% of the credit to Leon because Dan alone would not have been able to win even 1 rubber.

Well done to Leon for his contributions, and Dan for his excellent play and bravery.

I agree with you, and Dan himself is reported as saying that it was thanks to Leon that he was able to cope with the pressures of playing at Braehead, but I still think he has improved mentally because I don't believe you can nurture something which isn't already there. However, I can't see Dan being selected to play against Belgium, even if Andy doesn't play, although I can see him being selected in the future, provided he's still willing to put in the hard work necessary to further his tennis career - something which I hope the weekend's successes will have boosted. The potential to get to the top 100, or even the top 50 is there. I just hope it doesn't go to waste.

I think Britain is very lucky to have Leon as DC captain. Even just watching him inspires confidence, and I can see why Andy rated him so highly when he was his coach.